Dubai’s Green Cover: A Vanguard of Hope for Global Conservation

My recent visit to Dubai was an eye-opening experience that challenged my preconceived notions of what a desert city can achieve. As a botanist and environmental law expert, I am accustomed to observing the delicate balance of ecosystems. However, in Dubai, I witnessed something truly remarkable: a flourishing biodiversity in a landscape defined by extreme heat and arid conditions. It’s a powerful contrast. While many cities with naturally fertile land are losing their green cover, Dubai, a city built on sand, is actively transforming its environment. The omnipresent chirping of house sparrows, a species in decline in many of the … Continue reading

Things to Know About Habitat Loss in MENA

Habitat loss of native species in MENA region is increasing at a sensational rate as a consequence of natural and human causes. MENA has diverse ecosystems, including aquatic and terrestrial, with different climate patterns. The region have three globally recognized hotspots; the Irano-Anatolian region, the Mediterranean forest region and the Horn of Africa region. According to 2015 IUCN Red List, approximately 2476 species in MENA are under threat comprising of mammals, fishes, birds, mollusc, amphibians, reptiles, and other species.  28% of threatened species comprises of fishes, 18% plants, 12% birds, 9% mammals and rest others. IUCN data show highest threatened … Continue reading

World Wetlands Day – Protecting Our Wetlands For Our Common Future

World Wetlands Day is celebrated on 2nd February every year. It marks the date of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on 2nd February 1971. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997. Every year there is a different theme and the theme for World Wetlands Day 2025 is “Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future”. What is a Wetland A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, natural or artificial, static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salty and include areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not … Continue reading

Extreme Weather Events Resulting From Climate Change

Regardless of where one is on the globe, the effects of climate change are very apparent and extremely threatening to the local inhabitants. These climatic threats are presenting themselves in four main ways, namely extended heat waves, devastating flooding, persistent droughts and extensive wildfires. These are presently the most destructive impacts of climate change, but there are other natural event occurrences. As well as the geo-physical impacts, there are also the accompanying increasing health risks, anxiety and stress issues, fatigue and exhaustion, just to name a few resultant factors. Right now with the summer in full swing in the northern … Continue reading

تأثير البيئة الطبيعية على صحتك العقلية

يقضي الكثير منا أيام العمل في الداخل تحت ضوء الفلورسنت مع اتصالٍ ضعيف أو معدوم بالعالم الطبيعي. لطيف كما يبدو للحصول على بعض الهواء النقي أو المشي بعد العمل، ولكن التفكير في الأمر قد يكون مرهقاً، خاصة عندما الأريكة تدعوك إلى المنزل بعد يوم طويل. لكن قضاء معظم الوقت في الداخل ليس جيداً لصحتك، وقد كشفت مجموعة متزايدة من الأبحاث المزايا العديدة التي يتمتع بها التواجد في الطبيعة على صحتك الجسدية والعقلية. تأثير بيئتك على صحتك العقلية في عالمنا الغربي الحديث، يقضي الكثير من الناس معظم وقتهم في الداخل. علاوة على ذلك، نحن نعيش في وقت يقضي فيه الكثير منا … Continue reading

Dugongs in Local Bahrain Waters: Perspectives

It appears that the Arabian Gulf is a preferred location for the marine dugong as the second largest population of this species, after those located in Australian waters, are found in the Gulf waters. The largest group sightings have been north-west of Hawar Island (between Bahrain and Qatar). From recent studies published in the Journal of Biological Conservation, the local population is around 6,000 dugongs. Just who or what is the dugong? What are Dugongs? The dugong belongs to the taxonomic group referred to as the Sirenian. It is one of four living species belonging to the order Sirenia. The … Continue reading

Eco-Friendly Rehab Centers: Why Sustainable Spaces Heal Better

Every sector of life is advancing, and we are seeing major shifts in how modern therapy is evolving to replace traditional therapy methods. Nowadays, you will find many more comfortable, and easy-to-follow practices to nurture the human brain, body and life approaches. Eco-friendly rehab centers are a step towards advancement and are proving to be better than the conventional ones. A person trying to recover from an addiction would never want to be reminded of it daily, and the prison-like, concrete rehab centers of the past did not make it any easier! Rehab centers are facilities where people can reconcile … Continue reading

A Message on Earth Day

Earth Day has now grown into a global environmental tradition making it the largest civic observance in the world and is widely celebrated event in which over one billion people from over 190 countries will participate by taking suitable actions for saving our mother Earth. The Earth Day was first organized in 1970 to promote respect for life on the planet and to encourage awareness on air, water and soil pollution. Each year a different theme or topic is selected. The theme of Earth Day 2018 is ‘End Plastic Pollution’. Plastic pollution is poisoning our oceans and lands, injuring marine life … Continue reading

VeryNile – Keeping the Nile Alive

Over the last decade we have become increasingly alarmed at the amount of plastic in our oceans. More than 8 Million tons of it ends up out oceans every year and if we continue to pollute at this rate, there will be more trash than fish by the year 2050. By the way, there are 3.5 Trillion fishes in the ocean now. Where does all this waste come from? After analyzing waste in rivers and surrounding landscape, researchers found that most plastic waste comes from rivers; and 90% of this waste comes from only 10 river systems. One of them, … Continue reading

تحقيق التوازن بين الحفاظ على البيئة والنمو الحضري: دروس من محمية الريم في قطر

محمية الريم الطبيعية في قطر هي منطقة محمية ومأهولة تقع في الجزء الشمالي الغربي من البلاد. يمكن الوصول إليها بسهولة من الطرق الرئيسية، وهي تبعد أقل من 50 ميلًا عن الدوحة، مما يجعلها وجهة جذابة لمن يرغبون في الاستمتاع بجمال الطبيعة دون الحاجة إلى تنظيم رِحْلات كبرى. يحمل هذا المشروع العديد من الدروس المهمة للأشخاص المهتمين بالبيئة. يمكن أن يساعد فهم المراحل المختلفة للمشروع في تحديد ما يجب مراعاته عند قياس النجاح وتحديد الأولويات. التعاون أساس النجاح تم إنشاء محمية الريم رسميًا في عام 2005. ونظرًا لأن الأرض تمتد عبر ثلاث سلطات قضائية، كان التعاون بين عدة جهات أمرًا ضروريًا … Continue reading

الإسلام و البيئة

تقدم المعتقدات، العادات، و القيم الإسلامية حلّا شاملا و فعالا  للتحديات البيئية الراهنة التي تواجه الجنس البشري. يمتلك الإسلام تقاليدا غنية تسلط الضوء على أهمية حماية البيئة والحفاظ على الموارد الطبيعية. وفقا للشريعة الإسلامية، فإن العناصر الأساسية للطبيعة – الأرض، المياه، النار، الغابات، والضوء –  هي حق لكافة الكائنات الحية، و ليست حكرا على البشر فقط.  إن القرآن الكريم والسنة النبوية الشريفة عي بمثابة نور يوجه تعزيز التنمية المستدامة في البلدان الإسلامية و في جميع أنحاء العالم. و قد أمر الله سبحانه و تعالى البشر بالابتعاد عن سوء استخدام و هدر الموارد، لأن مثل هذه الأفعال قد تسهم في تدهور … Continue reading

النحل والنظام البيئي

كرَّم الله تعالى حشرة النحل في كتابه العزيز حيث خصص سورة فيه عرفت بإسم سورة النحل (16،  مكِّيَّة، 128 آية ) ويقول فيها: “وَأَوْحَى رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ (68) ثُمَّ كُلِي مِنْ كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ فَاسْلُكِي سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلا يَخْرُجُ مِنْ بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ“(69) . وعن ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: “عليكم بالشفاءين العسل والقرآن“.. رواه إبن ماجه في سننه وإبن مردويه والحاكم وصححه والبيهقي في شعب الإيمان . ويعتبر النحل (مفردها نحلة) من الحشرات … Continue reading